The national poverty rate increased for a second consecutive year in 2021 as the economy slowly recovered from the Covid-19 pandemic, although US household income barely moved from the previous year.
Inflation-adjusted median household income rose to $70,800 last year, according to yearly figures from the US Census Bureau released on Tuesday. The poverty rate increased from 11.4 per cent the year before to 11.6 per cent this year. In 2019, it fell to its lowest level in 60 years.
The information contributes to a complete understanding of the financial situation of American families in the first year of President Joe Biden’s administration following the turmoil of 2020 when the pandemic was proclaimed a national emergency.
The annual unemployment rate increased to 8.1 per cent in 2020, a nine-year high, before dropping to 5.3 per cent in 2021. The pace was around 3.7 per cent in 2019, which is where it is now.
The American Rescue Plan, a $1.8 trillion pandemic relief programme that Biden signed in March of last year, offered $1,400 checks for millions of individuals at the cost of $410 billion and extended unemployment benefits for the unemployed.
That came after President Donald Trump’s two significant 2020 legislation packages cost roughly $3 trillion together.